2 player games. They are extremely hit or miss for me. I like to have them in my collection so I have games that are easily played with my girlfriend. Games designed specifically for 2 players however can tend to be dry. Often times they wind up being very much abstract games even if they have been skinned with a theme. Sometimes however you get a real game nestled in there that doesn't really feel like columns, and rows, and colors, and numbers. A couple of my favorite 2 player games that are more than just quick time killers are Targi, and Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small. Raptor jumps right into this list for me.

Without going into deep detail of how the game is played, I'd rather give you what I consider are the highlights of the game. First let's give credit to the designers, the Brunos. I have to admit that even though looking at this game I felt like it might not be enjoyable as it seemed very much a piece movement abstract, but seeing the Cathala/Faidutti names convinced me there must be more there than I was taking from the surface. Beyond that there was no real research that I did, but I took the plunge and bought the game. Probably the most intriguing element of the game for me is the asymmetrical play style of the players. The scientist and the mother raptor have different actions and different goals. This gives plenty of re-playability to the game as you get to play both sides from game to game. Where the game continues to shine is is the card play and trying to outwit your opponent. The cards have actions and numbers. The person playing the lowest numbered card gets to take the action, whereas the person playing the higher number subtracts the value of the lower number and gets that many action points. Where this becomes interesting is many times you want the action points, but you want as many as you can get. Thinking about what cards have already been played (which is open knowledge) and what you can get away with, but other times you feel like you need the action and can only hope that you play lower than the other player. Such glorious tension in these decisions. The modular board is such a great idea for a game like this. It doesn’t change much to be honest with you, but it’s nice to have a variable board anyway.

To put the icing on the cake we got components. 10 individual scientist figured and every one is a unique model. They didn’t have to do that, but they did. The artwork on the cards is really nice, and the number are huge so you can clearly see which cards have been played. 3d rocks that didn’t have to be included but were, and it helps seeing line of sight as well.

Overall this is a good game, done well, and plays smooth. If you like 2 player games, give this one a look.

There must have been a moment at the beginning, where we could have said no. Somehow we missed it. Well, we'll know better next time.

In some ways this reminds me of Knizia's Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation, with the asymmetric sides, and the method of combat. But also very different, there are some really interesting twists like the action points vs special powers dynamics. Looks like REALLY nice production too. Can't wait to try this.

I feel this game is far superior to LotT:TC, but I was o my so-so on that game to begin with. It's less euroy than ACBaS and Fargo that I mentioned above so not sure about where it lies in the hierarehy, I also really like Patchwork but if i were to throw Jambo into the conversation, that would make up my top 5 small box 2 player games certainly.